Most people don't know about open/save dialog box extenders, which is shame since these little programs can make your life a lot easier. They work in the background and improve the functionality of the common Microsoft Windows open and save dialog boxes that are used from nearly every program. You might not have given much thought to those built in dialogs, but the simple truth is that they suck. After spending a few days with the programs below we think you'll probably agree with us that you couldn't live without one.

The main thing a dialog box extender does is let you expand the size of the dialogs, change to a different view mode (like details mode), and keep a list of favorite and recent folders you can easily navigate to.

This is not a category where one single program stands out clearly above the rest, and we recommend you try out any that sound appealing to you - this is probably one of those categories where you may viscerally respond well to some better than others. However we did identify three utilities that we thought had the best combination of features:

Direct Folders (some nice special features)

Filebox Extender (very clean and simple and stable)

File-Ex (different approach using combo boxes, great file finder)

XFilesDialog (lots of buttons if that suits you; great per-application settings)

We think that the open source program DM2 has great potential to in this category in the long term, but is currently not suitable as an alternative to the shareware programs.

We are pleased to announce a 50% discount for members of DonationCoder.com who purchase Direct Folders, an almost 50% discount of the purchase of Quick Folders, a 30% discount on Filebox Extender, and a 25% discount on XFilesDialog and File-Ex..

Discounts have expired.

Review by mouser

WHAT IS AN OPEN/SAVE DIALOG EXTENDER?

In nearly every program you use on your computer, when you save and open a file, you encounter the Microsoft Open/Save Dialog. You may not have given this dialog much thought, but that the fact that you interact with it so often means that even the minor inconveniences can add up over time to major annoyances.

Over the years a number of special utilities have emerged that run in the background (usually living in your system tray), and when they see an open/save/browse dialog pop up, they quickly hook into it and "extend" or "improve it" in a variety of ways.

The most common things done are to enlarge the dialog, sort the entries, and switch into an alternate display mode (many of us like details mode).

Perhaps most importantly, these dialogs can also keep track of recent folders and a list of your favorite folders, and make these available from an easy menu, letting you jump directly to these folders from the open/save dialogs.

This ability, to quickly navigate to recent and favorite folders, can be a life saver if you are the kind of person who keeps their files organized into nice hierarchies.

Some of the tools are minimalist in terms of what they add to the dialogs, and some are more elaborate; which you prefer may depend on your aesthetic preferences.

original vs. extended
(sample using filebox extender)

FEATURES WE CARE ABOUT

Here are the features we consider most important for a good open/save dialog extender

Stability - has to work on modern and older dialogs, and not crash any programs; and has to reliably alter the dialogs without switching into inappropriate views.

It should adjust folder-only browse dialogs as well.

Needs to be able to change default mode (into details for example).

Needs to be able to change size of dialog.

Should be aesthetically pleasing and not overly obtrusive.

Needs to present list of recent files and folders.

Needs to present list of favorite folders, and user should be able to customize this list easily.

YES (a bit tricky, see instructions for importing templates - but works well)

Last release

v3, date unknown

Support forum available

no

Lists available

recent files, recent folders, favorite files, favorite folders

Access folders from tray icon

NO

Memory for last file/folder

can reopen last folder used from an application

Comments:
Great feature set. Lots of options added to open/save dialogs providing. We especially liked the built-in file finder. After some struggle the makers of file-ex showed us that MS Office is indeed supported, it just requires a little extra work to import the right template; but once configured it worked well. The drop down boxes are a bit ugly and it may be a bit overwhelming and obtrusive for some, but others may find them very useful and perfect for their tastes - definitely worth a try.

tons of window management extras but very short on open/save dialog features

Customize favorites

yes (nice)

Easy to add current file/folder

no

Exclusions

yes

General customizability

good in general, but very minimal open/save dialog options

Custom sorting

NO

Works on MS Office dialogs

NO

Last release

November 2005

Support forum available

sourceforge forum, not active

Lists available

favorite folders

Access folders from tray icon

no

Memory for last file/folder

no

Comments:

Very actively developed. Support for plugins and some interesting plugins already developed (virtual desktop, window rollup and minimize stuff). Major focus is not on open/save dialog boxes, and may not be the most reliable at modifying them. It's currently missing a lot of open/save dialog options and so is not yet a good solution for those wanting mainly good open/save dialog features.

Comments:
We didn't like how favorite and recent lists were combined in view, but otherwise very nice simple and effective.
Inability to add current folder to favorites is a big drawback, but otherwise we were surprised by how good it was.

A favorite of many, the company just disappeared one day; offers some nice extra functionality. We liked the different options for display (including cool invisible mode).
We can't recommend a discontinued product for this category because with changes in dialogs you need a product that will be updated.
Also, folder favorites are added to ie favorites directory, which is a horrible solution since it clutters up your ie favorites directories.

No ability to resize dialog or change default view. This is a program which is probably only suitable for people who use windows explorer and want to add buttons to it for their favorite places; it's not a full open/save dialog extender. It does support a button that can be added to open/save dialogs, though we had a little bit of trouble getting it to work.

The most important information you should take from this review of open/save dialog extenders is that if you aren't currently using one, you need one. They can significantly improve your workflow in any program, and after a few weeks you won't know how you lived without it.

The different programs have various bells and whistles, and they are all approximately the same price (barring any discounts). Depending on your needs you may find one more appealing then another.

We identified a few core features that we thought were most important:

Work with MS Office dialogs (none seem to be perfect at this)

Enhance folder browse dialog (many don't support this)

Easy to add current folder (makes life a lot easier)

Show favorites and recent items (separating these two helps)

Ability to customize dialog box size and view mode (default size is too small, and switching to default mode can help a lot)

With this feature list, the following programs seem to us to be at the top of the list:

Direct Folders (some nice special features)

Filebox Extender (very clean and simple and stable)

File-Ex (different approach using combo boxes, great file finder)

XFilesDialog (lots of buttons if that suits you; great per-application settings)

But remember that this category is wide open, and you really need to try the various programs for a while before you settle on one that suits your way of working; your choice of best app may differ from ours. Some of them have better aesthetics than others and some more functionality. And with such close functionality, a big discount might be a deciding factor. Modifying the open/save dialogs is also something prone to some subtle issues - and we recommend you take advantage of any trial period to see how well the programs work over an extended period of time with your applications.

The programs that we've listed that tied for best-in-class each look and feel a little differently, so we can't emphasize enough the need to try them out to find the one that best suits the way you worked.

We did experience some issues with Microsoft Office - if you use Office a lot you may have to try different programs until you find one that works best for you.

There currently is no sufficiently good freeware tool in this category. DM2, an actively developed open source alternative, with much larger ambitions than simply enhancing open/save dialogs, does not yet offer enough functionality to be used for this task. However, we would not be surprised if this review and some prodding might convince someone to add such functionality to DM2. Their support of plugins should make it fairly easy, and DM2 has the great potential to not only be competetive in this category but dominate it with a little effort. So the possibility of a free contender in this category in the near future is great.

We are pleased to announce a 50% discount for members of DonationCoder.com who purchase Direct Folders, an almost 50% discount of the purchase of Quick Folders, a 30% discount on Filebox Extender, and a 25% discount on XFilesDialog and File-Ex.